Tei Ninomiya

Japanese educator

Tei Ninomiya

Tei Ninomiya, from the 1910 yearbook of Smith College.

Born| 1887

Matsuyama, Shikoku

Died| Unknown
Occupation| Educator
Known for| first Asian student at Smith College
Spouse| Unjiro Fujita

Tei Ninomiya (born 1887 – unknown date of death) was a Japanese educator and wife of bureaucrat Unjiro Fujita. She was the first Asian graduate of Smith College. A residence hall on campus, Ninomiya House, is now named for her. Another Japanese student Akuri (Aguri) Inokichi attended Smith in the 1890s as a graduate student and studied physical education.

## Early life and education

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Ninomiya was born in Matsuyama, the daughter of Kunijiro Ninomiya, a Japanese Congregational minister and schoolmaster.[1][2] She sailed from Yokohama to Seattle in 1903 with a group of other Japanese women students, and graduated from Smith College in 1910. She is recognized as the school's first Asian student.[3] While she was at Smith, she spoke about Japanese women's lives, often dressed in a kimono,[4] to women's groups and church audiences in New England.[5][6][7] She wrote an essay, "The Condition of Japanese Women" (1907), for the Smith College Monthly.[8]

## Career

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Ninomiya was a teacher in Japan, and a Red Cross worker. She was also secretary of the YWCA in Yokohama in 1912,[9][10] until she married in 1913 and was replaced by American Molly Baker.[11] She was a member of the national committee of the YWCA in Japan,[12][13] working with Michi Kawai, a Bryn Mawr College alumna.[14][15]

## Personal life and legacy

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In December 1913, Ninomiya married Japanese lawyer and bureaucrat Unjiro Fujita [ja].[12] They had multiple children: Meiko (born 1914) and Atsuo (born 1916);[16] and they had two young sons when Smith alumna Stella Tuthill visited them in Kobe early in the 1920s.[17] The Fujitas moved to Port Arthur in Manchuria later in 1922.[18] She had a son and two daughters when she wrote to the Smith College alumnae from Hiroshima in 1930.[19]

In 2010, the president of Smith College, Carol T. Christ, toured six Asian cities; the timing of her trip coincided with the centenary of Ninomiya's graduation from Smith.[20] Smith College dedicated Ninomiya House in 2016, a campus residence named in her memory.[21] There is a plaque on the building's exterior, explaining her significance in the school's history.[15]

## References

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1. ^ "Women Who Do". The News-Journal. 1907-07-31. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-11-05 - via Newspapers.com.
2. ^ Who's who in Japan with Manchoukuo and China. Who's Who in Japan Pub. Office. 1938. p. 113.
3. ^ "Smith's Roots in Asia". Smith College. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
4. ^ "Japanese Women's Life Described". Record-Journal. 1910-05-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-11-05 - via Newspapers.com.
5. ^ "Hollis and Vicinity". Hollis Times. 1907-07-12. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-11-05 - via Newspapers.com.
6. ^ "York". The Portsmouth Herald. 1909-07-10. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-11-05 - via Newspapers.com.
7. ^ "Prof. Ross on Divorce Evil". The Boston Globe. 1910-01-02. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-11-05 - via Newspapers.com.
8. ^ Ninomiya, Tei (April 1907). "The Condition of Japanese Women". Smith College Monthly. 14 (7): 409–414 - via Internet Archive.
9. ^ "Y.W.C.A. Work in Yokohama". The Japan Daily Mail. May 10, 1913. p. 593. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
10. ^ Freedman, Alisa; Miller, Laura; Yano, Christine R. (2013-04-17). Modern Girls on the Go: Gender, Mobility, and Labor in Japan. Stanford University Press. p. 208\. ISBN 978-0-8047-8554-9.
11. ^ Prang, Margaret (2011-11-01). A Heart at Leisure from Itself: Caroline Macdonald of Japan. UBC Press. p. 94\. ISBN 978-0-7748-4265-5.
12. ^ a b Alumnae Association of Smith College (1913). Smith Alumnae Quarterly. Alumnae Association of Smith College. pp. 128, 288.
13. ^ The Japan Christian Year Book. Christian Literature Society. 1913. p. 444.
14. ^ Hagin, Fred Eugene (1914). The Cross in Japan. Fleming H. Revell Company. p. 241.
15. ^ a b "Ninomiya House". Read the Plaque. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
16. ^ Alumnae Association of Smith College (1916). Smith Alumnae Quarterly. Alumnae Association of Smith College. p. 258.
17. ^ Tuthill, Stella (May 1922). "Smith Around the World". Smith Alumnae Quarterly. 13 (3): 226 - via Internet Archive.
18. ^ "Class Notes". Smith Alumnae Quarterly. 13 (4): 442. 1921 - via Internet Archive.
19. ^ Alumnae Association of Smith College (1930). Smith Alumnae Quarterly. Alumnae Association of Smith College. p. 87.
20. ^ "Six-City Asia Tour by Smith College President To Highlight the Power of Women's Education". Smith College News Office. October 18, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
21. ^ "Friedman Apartment Complex To Be Dedicated May 6". Smith College. March 7, 2016. Retrieved 2022-11-05.